The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men … a somewhat turbulent safari to Kenya

[samburumags]

As usual I am speechless (thank goodness says GW) What an experience with wild dogs. I refuse to enthuse about your photography there is nothing more I can say. Such a shame that people steal your work I would love to claim your photos are mine but I am determined to improve my efforts with my little "Brownie"

[graceland]

As usual I am speechless (thank goodness says GW) What an experience with wild dogs. I refuse to enthuse about your photography there is nothing more I can say. Such a shame that people steal your work I would love to claim your photos are mine but I am determined to improve my efforts with my little "Brownie"

Wait, who is stealing Twaffle's work???? Have we caught them?.. Can they do that off a forum?

Well its a good thing I can NOT take a shot...nobody would want an iphone or p&s photo,

but truly

how crass...

 

I will wait until I receive one via email,hahaha.

 

@@samburumags, we must be the same generation; I had a brownie..probably still in my attic somewhere.Perhaps I'd do better with that:)

[Sangeeta]

Those aerial dog shots are unbelievable! For goodness sake, you were probably flying over that spot for no more than a minute and what are the chances...?! What a lovely surprise though, and those two little specks have stolen the thunder from those beautiful flamingo formations. Yes, I am sure too that there's an aardvark hiding in your pictures somewhere

 

These black frames with the white captions are really effective.

[pault]

 

As usual I am speechless (thank goodness says GW) What an experience with wild dogs. I refuse to enthuse about your photography there is nothing more I can say. Such a shame that people steal your work I would love to claim your photos are mine but I am determined to improve my efforts with my little "Brownie"

Wait, who is stealing Twaffle's work???? Have we caught them?.. Can they do that off a forum?

 

 

Have a look -there are three empty frames already. These hackers just come in here and steal it away.

 

Game Warden caught them of course.

[ZaminOz]

Game Warden caught them of course.

Like poachers in the night...

[Treepol]

Wow! Those aerial flamingo photos are amazing, I love the detail of the individual birds taking off leaving a soft trail across the surface of the lake. Like GW, my first thought was of the flamingo scenes in Out of Africa.

[twaffle]

Thanks everyone, I was also very surprised at the detail in the aerials. Makes you want to do something like that again but I think it was probably a once off for the likes of me. Never say never.

 

The last section will be awhile, I'm afraid. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[samburumags]

Hurry up Twaffle, its not as though you have anything else to do!!!!!!

[Game Warden]

Oh @@twaffle, you had 14 1/2 hours whilst ST was down to process those pics. Come on now...

[pault]

This and twaffle's comments are really not helping to keep everyone patient you know?

 

Still, you just about get away with it as there are plenty of exceptional reports around at the moment.

 

 

 

 

See what I did there? ;-)

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[Safaridude]

Mountain reedbuck! I have only seen them once.

 

The aerial shots of the flamingoes are outstanding.

[AKR1]

The aerial shots are outstanding but being able to

identify wild dogs in a picture from several thousand feet is exceptional. Canon will be pleased to see their 200-400 in highly capable hands can really deliver.

Edited October 12, 2013 by AKR1

[twaffle]

Thanks everyone.

 

AKR, just should mention that the aerials were shot with 24-105, I defy anyone to shoot aerials with the 200-400.

[kittykat23uk]

Wonderful trip report both!

[Rainbirder]

Simply superb!!!

Surreal serendipity to capture wild dogs on your flight over Bogoria!

The Rift Valley lakes look very different in comparison to my last trip there.

[twaffle]

Rainbirder, of course you were much of the inspiration for my wanting to go to Bogoria so I'm very thankful to see it even in a different guise. I think the amount of water is a bit surprising for everyone. I would certainly make another effort to get back there on ground level.

[twaffle]

I am going to post a few photos from Kitirua now, as an apology for the fact that a very heavy work load means that the concluding parts of the journey will be delayed. I hope it will give you all a small taste of the photographic delights of Kitirua where despite very little in terms of 'golden light', we were well and truly looked after.

 

[africapurohit]

Fantastic images - three of the photos depict what looks like sandy/gravel surfaces. What this a common theme in Kitirua or just in particular locations. It adds a great new dimension to the photos!

[Kitsafari]

I'm only now catching up with the latest instalment. but wow, what a treat! @@twaffle gorgeous aerial pix. how did u manage to spy those dogs from the pix? u must have superwoman's sight!

 

in a day's time, i will sit back, kick off my shoes, curl up in a deck chair by the pool for the next five days to catch up on ALL the TRs i have missed so far. so @@twaffle , get the next instalment up quick (please?)! i can't wait for the lyrical storytelling to continue once more.

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

Africapurohit, the ground you are describing is the hard pan of Lake Amboseli.

 

Kitsafari, thanks for the nice comments. I only saw the dogs because I had zoomed in to look at the water across the road. Just a lucky result.

[BJlock]

What a wonderful report. Now I don't even have to go on safari, I can live vicariously through your pictures and stories....ok, just kidding

[africapurohit]

On 10/15/2013 at 8:32 AM, twaffle said:

Africapurohit, the ground you are describing is the hard pan of Lake Amboseli.

Thanks @@twaffle  - looking forward to more

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

Kitirua Conservancy 

 

The scenic part of our flight completed, we turned east, left the Gregory Rift Valley behind, and after a while we landed at the dusty Namanga airstrip, close to the Tanzania border, where Squack was waiting for us, together with Leyian, a Maasai gentleman and one of the “Lion Guardians” operating in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem (more on this later), who was going to be our “spotter”.

 

We had now entered the realm of copious dust, and it would define this part of our safari.

 

The general area is characterized by dryness, being in the rain shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and a very fine volcanic soil. With the strong winds that were present, it became a challenge to avoid the dust getting into everything.

 

The first part of the drive to our camp in Kitirua (which Squack and his staff had erected the previous day) was through a fairly dense Acacia – Commiphora dry woodland, with not much to be seen except Maasai cattle and a Gerenuk.

 

Then, as Lake Amboseli drew closer, the vegetation thinned out, and the amount of dust increased even further.

 

 

Transiting through a Maasai village (Maasai are still quite authentic in this area), a puncture to the vehicle was the source of some curiosity from the locals.

 

 

 

Then animals started to appear on the horizon,  we were now in Kitirua Conservancy.

 

Kitirua is a 12,000 ha private concession bordering Amboseli National Park to the southwest, right on the border with Tanzania. The concession holder is Ker & Downey, the most prestigious safari outfitting company in East Africa, whose operations date back to 1946 and services the needs of a selected group of private guides (either partners in the company or associated with it).

 

Being a private concession, the visitors to Kitirua enjoy enormous flexibility and freedom, and are not stuck to the road system of Amboseli, nor likely to see much tourist traffic. They are also spared some ugly views of buildings and other signs of human encroachment quite intrusive in certain parts of the park.

 

No wonder that given everything that Kitirua had to offer, we never went into Amboseli National Park once.

 

From a practical viewpoint, there are only two ways of accessing Kitirua:

 

- in a mobile camp with a private guide partner of or associated with Ker & Downey; or

- staying at Tortilis Camp, which is located on the northern boundary of the concession, but only if you use one of the camp vehicles for game drives (a few of them are allowed into Kitirua). To the contrary, if you stay at Tortilis with a different vehicle and your own driver/guide you will be confined to Amboseli for your wildlife viewing activities (unless, for whatever reason, you are staying at Tortilis with a Ker & Downey guide).

 

Fortunately for this safari, with Squack being an accredited Ker & Downey guide,we had access to this beautiful, stark landscape. Squack had put his camp up at the base of a small hill, nestled inside a beautiful grove of tall trees (one of the few in the area), and well protected from the wind and dust.

 

It was really a lovely campsite, quite different and more spread out than Baridi in Meru, but equally a joy to spend a few days in, the only nuisance being some pesky vervet monkeys that liked to jump on the roof of the tents and forced us to always keep the tent zipped when we were not inside.

 

In the immediate surroundings of camp, a few hills (including the Kitirua Hill after which the conservancy is made) constituted – in spite of their modest height – a definite landmark, in a very flat landscape but, on a clear day were dwarfed by three mountains over the border in Tanzania – in order of visibility, Mount Meru, Longido and, above all, “The Mountain”, the unmistakable shape of the snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro.

 

However, the main geographical feature of Kitirua is a significant portion of the harsh, apparently hostile but tantalizing, mostly bone dry, 30 km long, Pleistocene old Lake Amboseli. “Amboseli” is derived from “Embusel” in the Maa language, and it broadly means “the dry land” or “the empty land”. Anyway, the name is really apt.

 

Driving over the dry lake bed is very easy, at least in the dry season, and you see innumerable animal paths and are greeted with the constant view of herds on the horizon. A very unlikely animal paradise.

 

There are two main reasons for that. First, the melting snow and rainfall on Kilimanjaro to the south infiltrates into porous lava terrain before reaching the lower foot of the hills and then it re-emerges in the Amboseli Basin as permanent springs and seeps that form several swamps on the periphery of the lake. Second, the volcanic soil is very rich in nutrients, and consequently grasses are very productive in terms of carrying capacity of grazers.

 

After the terrible drought of 2009, it was predicted that the entire Greater Amboseli ecosystem was done, on the verge of collapsing. Watching the thousands of ungulates wading through the dust raised by their hooves, the recovery is just amazing..

 

Whilst plentiful, wildlife, at least as far as herbivores go, was not very varied. It has been well reported how the beautiful Acacia woodlands inside Amboseli have suffered during the past 30 - 40 years, and whilst Kitirua is in much better shape than the park, there is no real room for many browsers (with the exception of abundant Maasai Giraffe).

 

We saw many Common Zebra, White-bearded Wildebeest (the “Eastern” race, that you also find in Lake Manyara and Tarangire, not the “western” occurring in the Serengeti/Mara), and Thomson's and Grant's Gazelle.

 

 

 

 

We spotted a few Kongoni, a beautiful Fringe-eared Oryx and a few buffalo bulls around the swamps.

 

 

 

 

But, in spite of this lack of diversity, Kitirua is a photographer's dream with few equals.

 

The unpredictable appearances of The Mountain, the striking shape of isolated Acacia trees, the mirages on the lake bed, the silhouttes of the animals in the evning golden light......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the dry lake bed in a cloud of dust, sparring, splashing in the swamps, peacefully feeding in the golden grass, elephants were a constant source of wonder and amazement. It was particularly rewarding when Squack placed the vehicle close to the elephants path, allowing Terry and me to lie on the ground close to the side of the vehicle so that we could take some low angle photographs of the elephants as they walked past.  Sadly, one of our travelling companions could not keep quiet despite being asked many times and his chatter eventually caught the attention of one of the elephants who came to investigate.  Our photographic idyll had to come to an abrupt end.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

Lion Guardians 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Lion Guardians” project began around 2007 in the Mbirikani Group Ranch, to the west of Amboseli National Park, at a time when the conflicts between Maasai pastoralists and lions – and the consequent killings of the latter – were at an historical high.

 

The idea was recruiting non-literate or semi-literate Maasai warriors to become actively engaged in protecting lions rather than killing them. Those morans enrolled in the Lion Guardians program are taught to read, write and communicate in Swahili (and at times a bit in English), and trained in wildlife management and conflict mitigation techniques. Instructed in field-methods such as radio-telemetry and GPS, the Lion Guardians monitor lion movements, warn pastoralists when lions are in their areas, recover lost livestock, reinforce protective bomas and intervene to stop lion hunting parties (a tradition of Maasai culture). All these activities lead to a reduction in the loss of livestock, which in turn increases tolerance for lions and other predators. Importantly, such conflict mitigation efforts are not antagonistic to the traditional Maasai culture and thus are easily understood and accepted by the local communities.

 

 

The program has been quite successful, and the Lion Guardians have recently expanded from the overall Greater Amboseli area in Kenya to West Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania (which is in part an extension of the Greater Amboseli ecosystem) and also, in a ground-breaking move, to some unprotected areas on the eastern boundary of Ruaha National Park, in central-southern Tanzania. This expansion is most notably since, unlike Amboseli and West Kilimanjaro, the local community is not Maasai, but a different, also quite traditional tribe, the Barabaig, and the Brabaig warriors enrolling in the program in Ruaha were taught the relevant techniques by some senior Kenyan Lion Guardians.

 

According to the “2012 Annual Report”, since 2010 the Lion Guardians have observed a continuing cub boom in the lion population on the group ranches of Amboseli, and the majority of the cubs have survived to sub-adulthood. Some of the females born in 2010 have already mated and had cubs of their own. Apparently, the Greater Amboseli region is the one area in Kenya (and one of the few in Africa) where the lion population is growing.

 

Watching our Kitirua cubs playing, we could only hope for the trend outlined above to continue also in the future. And that human encroachment and ill conceived tourism do not destroy this unique, but already fragile of its own ecosystem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[wilddog]

The juxtaposition of the maasai bracelet and the watch (and the dusty bino's) speaks volumes. 

 

Wonderfully informative, and visually delightful, report. Thank you both.

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle